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Starter or sixth man?

Did Smith sign on for another four years of being a reserve? He expressed a strong desire to start at the beginning of the 2012-13 season and was disappointed when Mike Woodson decided to use him off the bench.

The Knicks haven't given any indication that Smith's role will change. Their reserves, led by Smith, averaged 38.5 points per game, fourth best in the NBA. And Iman Shumpert has proved to be valuable in the starting five.

Smith's signing might affect the playing time for first-round pick Tim Hardaway Jr. The rookie's role will also depend, to some degree, on whether the Knicks add another free-agent wing this summer.

Starting Lineup could be:

Felton
Shumpert
J.R. Smith
Anthony
Chandler

For all of you that keep insisting that Melo will lineup at the 3, then I guess you have not been watching the Knicks lately... Not only is Carmelo a better PF that he is SF... His defensive worth is better, taking him off the perimeter and moving him to the post allows him to be physical... Not saying he doesn't have the ability to be that perimeter defender, but more of his willingness... Anthony at the 4 spot allows him to create mismatches offensively which gives us a better chance of succeeding...

So the question is, does the 6th man deserve to start and would he compliment Carmelo in the starting rotation... Between Felton, Shumpert driving to the rim, we could use another mid-range/3 pt. shooter on the wing to spread the floor, but his consistency is the issue... If this is the case, one would have to worry about the lack of rebounding that our 7 footer tends to do... (swatting missed shots often to the opposition, rather grabbing the rebound and kicking it out to one of our players)

Did Smith sign on for another four years of being a reserve? He expressed a strong desire to start at the beginning of the 2012-13 season and was disappointed when Mike Woodson decided to use him off the bench.

The Knicks haven't given any indication that Smith's role will change. Their reserves, led by Smith, averaged 38.5 points per game, fourth best in the NBA. And Iman Shumpert has proved to be valuable in the starting five.

Smith's signing might affect the playing time for first-round pick Tim Hardaway Jr. The rookie's role will also depend, to some degree, on whether the Knicks add another free-agent wing this summer.

Starting Lineup could be:

Felton
Shumpert
J.R. Smith
Anthony
Chandler

For all of you that keep insisting that Melo will lineup at the 3, then I guess you have not been watching the Knicks lately... Not only is Carmelo a better PF that he is SF... His defensive worth is better, taking him off the perimeter and moving him to the post allows him to be physical... Not saying he doesn't have the ability to be that perimeter defender, but more of his willingness... Anthony at the 4 spot allows him to create mismatches offensively which gives us a better chance of succeeding...

So the question is, does the 6th man deserve to start and would he compliment Carmelo in the starting rotation... Between Felton, Shumpert driving to the rim, we could use another mid-range/3 pt. shooter on the wing to spread the floor, but his consistency is the issue... If this is the case, one would have to worry about the lack of rebounding that our 7 footer tends to do... (swatting missed shots often to the opposition, rather grabbing the rebound and kicking it out to one of our players)

What do you think???

Thoughts???

NO he should not start. Nothing worse to start the flow of a game then two players shooting 90 percent of shots.

NO he should not start. Nothing worse to start the flow of a game then two players shooting 90 percent of shots.

that is total BS and you know it...

with J.R. in the starting lineup:

improved transition game
athleticism at the wing position
solid duo perimeter defense
spreads the floor/allows Melo more space to create shots
gives offense another shooter since Chandler is non-existent on offense

basically having J.R. in the starting lineup both the offense and defense will have a better success ratio... Smith understands the offense runs through Anthony whereas he won't try to shoot his way out of slumps and give it up...

Having two athletic rim shakers in Shumpert and Smith at the wings allow us to drive to the rim while spread the floor... Smith is not on the level of Shumpert as a perimeter defender but he does have the athleticism to become a nice tandem with Iman...

improved transition game
athleticism at the wing position
solid duo perimeter defense
spreads the floor/allows Melo more space to create shots
gives offense another shooter since Chandler is non-existent on offense

basically having J.R. in the starting lineup both the offense and defense will have a better success ratio... Smith understands the offense runs through Anthony whereas he won't try to shoot his way out of slumps and give it up...

Having two athletic rim shakers in Shumpert and Smith at the wings allow us to drive to the rim while spread the floor... Smith is not on the level of Shumpert as a perimeter defender but he does have the athleticism to become a nice tandem with Iman...

here we go the usual jr has the potential to play defense. If the king had balls he would be the king.
Jr shined as 6th man so why change it.
Please don't say he knows to pass off the ball I mean come on. And with Melo and jr bringing up the ball what transition game are u talking about.

I want to bring JR and Bargnani off the bench to add scoring to second team. It does not matter to me who starts the game it matters who is on the court during crunch time / scoring droughts. I also do not like Melo guarding bigs as it takes more energy to bang and rebound every drive. Having Bargnani spell Stat during minute restriction is a plus with JR spelling Melo and Shump

I want to bring JR and Bargnani off the bench to add scoring to second team. It does not matter to me who starts the game it matters who is on the court during crunch time / scoring droughts. I also do not like Melo guarding bigs as it takes more energy to bang and rebound every drive. Having Bargnani spell Stat during minute restriction is a plus with JR spelling Melo and Shump

Chandler
Stoudemire
Melo
Shump
Felton

i like prig on court with jr to keep him balanced. Melo at the 4 means he gets banged up. Need a healthy Melo more then anything else. Let jr be Melo in the 2nd team. End of game is for woody to figure out.

I still think jr will be an issue if woody rides him. Other teams passed on jr for this despite his potential

I want to bring JR and Bargnani off the bench to add scoring to second team. It does not matter to me who starts the game it matters who is on the court during crunch time / scoring droughts. I also do not like Melo guarding bigs as it takes more energy to bang and rebound every drive. Having Bargnani spell Stat during minute restriction is a plus with JR spelling Melo and Shump

Chandler
Stoudemire
Melo
Shump
Felton

The only thing I would change is putting Stat on the bench and starting Bargnani. We have seen that Stat and Melo both want to operate on the same part of the floor and they would get in each other's way. With Bargnani starting it would spread the floor more and give Melo more room to operate and with Bargnani's ability to stretch the floor it will give more lanes for guys like Melo, Felton and Shumpert to drive. Then the second unit can be Pablo, JR, and Stat. I think this lineup would give us better floor balance on both the first and second units.

The only thing I would change is putting Stat on the bench and starting Bargnani. We have seen that Stat and Melo both want to operate on the same part of the floor and they would get in each other's way. With Bargnani starting it would spread the floor more and give Melo more room to operate and with Bargnani's ability to stretch the floor it will give more lanes for guys like Melo, Felton and Shumpert to drive. Then the second unit can be Pablo, JR, and Stat. I think this lineup would give us better floor balance on both the first and second units.

That's my line up Knicksfan! I think Melo at the 4 hurts our team defensively. Makes us really small at the 2 and the 3 and watching Melo pick up BS fouls guarding Bigs was brutal. If we look to match up size wise then maybe and HOPEFULLY we can STOP SWITCHING on defense ALL OF THE TIME.

To the point of the post I think J>R> should come off the bench. He was the 6th man, gave us a great lift and was able to play his natural position. If he's moved to be a starter then we get back to shuffling guys around Cause there is NO WAY with the PG's we have that we can have shump come off the bench instead.